Study sets walking benchmarks for healthy Korean adults
An observational study of 612 healthy Korean adults aged 20 to their 80s provided age- and sex-specific reference values from an electronic walkway.
Multicenter
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational registry study, 612 healthy, community-dwelling Korean adults aged 20 to their 80s underwent walking assessments at 11 randomly selected centers. Researchers recruited participants across 18 age- and sex-defined groups. They recorded walking measurements on a pressure-based electronic walkway and produced age- and sex-specific reference values.
In both sexes, older age groups had lower measurements of walking pace and more variation in step length. These differences remained after accounting for height and study center. Walking timing and measures of left-right differences remained similar across age groups. The researchers offered the dataset as a baseline for interpreting walking assessments and applying clinical criteria in Korea.
Why it matters
Age-specific walking benchmarks may help clinicians interpret measurements in the context of age, rather than relying on Western reference values that may not fit Korean adults.
Caveats
Comparisons between age groups do not establish how an individual's walking changes over time. These reference values came from healthy Korean adults and do not establish benchmarks for other populations.
The paper
Inje University; Dong-A University Hospital
Journal of Movement Disorders, Oct 23, 2026, Open access
